Broadfield House hoasted one third of the events at the hugely successful 'International Festival of Glass' in August; 10,000 visitors attended the festival and the council have reported that the event brought in an estimated £500k to the local economy. Broadfield House had 4,800 attendees in August!

Broadfield House visitor numbers are going up every year; the festival is hugely successful.

Hello & Welcome to the Board! Sometimes my replies are short & succinct, other times lengthy. Apologies in advance if they are not to your satisfaction; my main concern is to be accurate for posterity & to share my limited knowledgeFor information on exhibitions & events and to see images of my new work join my Facebook grouphttps://www.facebook.com/adamaaronsonglassIntroduction to Glassblowing course:a great way to spend an afternoon http://www.zestgallery.com/glass.

I fully appreciate the concerns that you and others have raised regarding the future of the Borough’s Internationally renowned Glass Collections and how they can be preserved and enhanced for future generations.

I would like to firstly explain that we are not shutting the glass museum and attempting to either put the collections in the existing space at Redhouse Cone or into storage, which appears to be a major worry for many people who have contacted me.

The location of Broadfield House is not ideal from the point of view of a visitor attraction. It is not easily accessible to many people who visit the Red House Cone, which is shown, by the number of visitors to each Museum. There are in excess of 20,000 more visitors to the Cone each year, which is one of the reasons why I would like to look at the option of relocating the entire collection to a single site. Clearly, this would have to entail an expansion of the existing Red House site.

I have called for a study on the feasibility of moving the collections and housing them in the Glass Quarter at The Red House Cone.

I appreciate that this will not be a process that can happen overnight and there will be a great deal of work that needs to be completed to ensure that we have covered all bases and understand fully the complexity and cost of what we would like to achieve.

I see this very much as an opportunity to enhance and improve the services provided to visitors and glass enthusiasts, set in the context of how the traditional glass was produced and I want to be certain that this can be achieved before any decisions are taken.

Sadly, armed with only a small amount of information, the press don’t always reflect the full picture of what is trying to be achieved and therefore I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to explain more fully.

It is heartening to know that there are so many people who care passionately about glass and its place in the boroughs heritage and I will do everything possible to ensure that its place is preserved, protected and enhanced.

I will make sure that we retain your contact details and keep you updated of any progress which will also give you the opportunity to be included in the consultation on any fully worked proposals that may come from our study.

Yours faithfully

Cllr Karen ShakespeareHalesowen North Ward CouncillorCabinet Member for the Environment & Culture

I too received this and will shortly be replying. My preliminary thoughts are that I am not over impressed. I think we need to keep up the momentum of the campaign. This seems to be standard bureaucrat-speak designed to fob us off and it is certainly not a pledge to keep the museum open.

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Hello & Welcome to the Board! Sometimes my replies are short & succinct, other times lengthy. Apologies in advance if they are not to your satisfaction; my main concern is to be accurate for posterity & to share my limited knowledgeFor information on exhibitions & events and to see images of my new work join my Facebook grouphttps://www.facebook.com/adamaaronsonglassIntroduction to Glassblowing course:a great way to spend an afternoon http://www.zestgallery.com/glass.

I totally agree; in fact a councillor told me today that the staff at Broadfield House have been asked to conduct the feasibility study! This and the letter from cll Karen Shakespeare confirms that a study has not been undertaken; so how has a saving of £120k been identified?

In short this letter confirms that, to date, this has been done without a study, budget or plan.

I fully appreciate the concerns that you and others have raised regarding the future of the Borough’s Internationally renowned Glass Collections and how they can be preserved and enhanced for future generations.

I would like to firstly explain that we are not shutting the glass museum and attempting to either put the collections in the existing space at Redhouse Cone or into storage, which appears to be a major worry for many people who have contacted me.

The location of Broadfield House is not ideal from the point of view of a visitor attraction. It is not easily accessible to many people who visit the Red House Cone, which is shown, by the number of visitors to each Museum. There are in excess of 20,000 more visitors to the Cone each year, which is one of the reasons why I would like to look at the option of relocating the entire collection to a single site. Clearly, this would have to entail an expansion of the existing Red House site.

I have called for a study on the feasibility of moving the collections and housing them in the Glass Quarter at The Red House Cone.

I appreciate that this will not be a process that can happen overnight and there will be a great deal of work that needs to be completed to ensure that we have covered all bases and understand fully the complexity and cost of what we would like to achieve.

I see this very much as an opportunity to enhance and improve the services provided to visitors and glass enthusiasts, set in the context of how the traditional glass was produced and I want to be certain that this can be achieved before any decisions are taken.

Sadly, armed with only a small amount of information, the press don’t always reflect the full picture of what is trying to be achieved and therefore I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to explain more fully.

It is heartening to know that there are so many people who care passionately about glass and its place in the boroughs heritage and I will do everything possible to ensure that its place is preserved, protected and enhanced.

I will make sure that we retain your contact details and keep you updated of any progress which will also give you the opportunity to be included in the consultation on any fully worked proposals that may come from our study.

Yours faithfully

Cllr Karen ShakespeareHalesowen North Ward CouncillorCabinet Member for the Environment & Culture

I see this very much as an opportunity to enhance and improve the services provided to visitors and glass enthusiasts, set in the context of how the traditional glass was produced and I want to be certain that this can be achieved before any decisions are taken.

Enhance and improve? How can she possibly come to this conclusion? Shoe-horning the existing museum into [perhaps] a quarter of the space is hardly what I would call an improvement... this is a denegration of the service, pure and simple.